After the deaths of two Illinois State Police troopers in roadside collisions this year, Gov. J.B. Pritzker and his state police director are joining a bipartisan group of lawmakers in backing legislation that would increase penalties for drivers who don’t slow down or move over for vehicles on the side of the road.
The proposal, filed Tuesday by Democratic state Rep. Marcus Evans of Chicago, would increase the minimum fine for a first violation of the move-over law, also known as Scott’s Law, to $250 from $100. Subsequent violations would carry a minimum fine of $750. Violators also would be charged an additional $250 fee that would help fund education and enforcement of the law.
“We’re here today to say, ‘Enough is enough,’ ” Evans said Tuesday at a news conference at state police headquarters in Springfield, where he was joined by the governor, acting Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly and a bipartisan group of lawmakers from the House and Senate.
The legislation comes after 16 state police squad cars have been struck and two troopers killed so far this year in crashes that involved alleged violations of Scott’s Law, which requires drivers to slow down and, if safe to do so, change lanes when approaching a vehicle on the side of the road with emergency or hazard lights flashing.
“There are few times that this office weighs heavier on me than when we lose one of our finest,” Pritzker said. “The calls to comfort the families, the funerals laying our heroes to rest — there have been too many.”
Illinois State Trooper Christopher Lambert, 34, was killed Jan. 12 when assisting with a multiple-vehicle crash on northbound Interstate 294 near Willow Road. Trooper Brooke Jones-Story, also 34, was struck and killed outside her car on U.S. Highway 20 in Freeport on March 28 — three days after Pritzker and Kelly held a news conference to call attention to the law.
In addition to upping fines, the proposal under consideration in the House would make it a Class A misdemeanor if a violation of the law results in damage to another vehicle and a Class 4 felony if it results in injury or death. A Class A misdemeanor is punishable by up to a year in jail; a Class 4 felony by 1 to 3 years in prison.
Reckless homicide cases involving violations of Scott’s Law that result in the death of a firefighter or emergency medical services worker would be a Class 2 felony, punishable by 3 to 7 years in prison, mirroring the penalty for crashes that kill police officers.
“We are going to protect the protectors,” said Republican Rep. John Cabello, a Rockford police detective.
As part of their enforcement effort, state police have issued more than 2,000 citations for violations of the law this year, Kelly said, more than double the number for all of 2018. He said the agency will continue working to educate the public about the law.
“Forty years ago, no one wore seat belts,” Kelly said. “Change for the better, change that saves lives, is possible.”
Named for Chicago Fire Department Lt. Scott Gillen, who was killed in 2000 on the Bishop Ford Freeway by a driver who was later convicted of reckless homicide, Scott’s Law was enacted in 2002 for emergency vehicles with their lights activated and expanded in 2017 to include all vehicles on the side of the road with hazard lights flashing.
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